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seidoo_ryuuUgh, I fail at posting anything in a timely fashion. >_< And now that I've decided to try my hand at NaNo this year, it's gotten even worse. So, now that summer is far behind us...here's the rest of the summer-based fic. :P The second part can be found here
Title: Dealbreaker
Fandom: City of Heroes
Characters: Allerdyce Scheele, Echida (Lucy)
Word Count: 2,304
Consciousness returned slowly to him, bit by bit, rather than all at once. He was aware of the brightness of the room, which he found strange--wasn't he back home, in his room, at Eden? Sound came next, and scent, and those were unfamiliar, too; he could hear the murmur of distant voices, the beep of machinery, but mostly, silence. The smell was even more foreign; vaguely chemical and antiseptic. Allerdyce opened his eyes.
What met his gaze was not the cool, dark stone of Eden's underground bunker, but smooth walls, painted a sterile, soothing shade of pale blue-green. Light streamed in through a window to his left. He was propped up in a bed that was not his own. On one arm, a medical I.D. bracelet cut a bright band against his dark skin. There were needles and sensors connected to his other arm, some connected to an I.V. pole, and some connected to monitoring equipment--the source of the beeping he'd heard. He was in the hospital, he recognized...but why? Even when he'd been knocked unconscious before, the City's vast network of mediport technology would whisk him to one of their high-tech rescusitation centers, reviving him and repairing his wonds almost instantaneously. What had happened this time that was so different...?
In a rush, it all came back to him: the ocean, the water, the feeling of his lungs filling with fluid. He tried to take a deep breath and sit up, and started coughing; his throat was raw and sore, and his stomach protested violently at the sudden movement. He flopped back against the bed with a groan, still coughing.
"You're awake."
Allerdyce turned at the sound of the voice, and realized he wasn't alone in the room. Lucy was sitting near the window, knees drawn up against her chest, arms wrapped around her legs. She stared at him, her expression unreadable. He tried to speak; it came out as an inaudible, hoarse whisper. He cleared his throat, tried again. "What happened?"
"How much do you remember?"
"Not much..." Allerdyce coughed again. "Not much past swallowing half the ocean, that is."
Lucy was staring at him. Her expression looked as though she wasn't sure she should be angry or relieved. "You practically did," she admitted. "You nearly drowned. And what kind of an idiot are you, anyway?"
"Huh?!"
"You left your stupid mediporter at home. You didn't have it on you." Lucy scowled; she'd settled on anger. "You went down, and I kept waiting for you to surface, and when you didn't, I kept watching for the signs that the 'porter had yanked you out of there. But it didn't happen." She stopped pacing and glared at him. "So I had to fish you out of the water and call an ambulance. Why didn't you have your 'porter on you?!"
"I..." He trailed off. "I usually don't carry it, when I'm out doing non-hero stuff. I guess, y'know, I didn't think I'd need it." He tried to raise his right hand to rub the back of his head and hissed in pain; it was the hand with the IV in it. "I'm sorry, babe."
Lucy's eyes flashed fire, her fists balled at her sides. "Don't you 'babe' me, Allerdyce!"
He stared at her, eyes wide. "I'm sorry!" he yelled. "I didn't plan on almost drowning, okay?!"
"And how come you didn't tell me you don't know how to swim?! How stupid is that? Why did you agree to go to the beach if you can't swim?!"
"Huh? Going to the beach was your idea; I didn't suggest it! And I can swim...when someone doesn't shove me out into open water!"
"Oh, so it's my fault, is it? Of all the careless...idiotic..." Lucy started pacing again. "...irresponsible...and you call yourself a hero! A defender, even! How can you possibly be good at what you do, if you can't even keep yourself alive?!"
"Hey!" Allerdyce was angry now. He pointed at her with his good hand. "I would've been just fine, if you hadn't pushed me into the water! And what, do you carry your 'porter with you, wherever you go?!"
"Yes!"
They glared at each other in silence for several long moments, the only sound the beeping of the monitors, the pace agitated as Allerdyce's heart raced. Finally, she heaved a gusty sigh. "If you would've just told me that you can't swim..."
"Babe, I told you. I can swim."
"Then why did this happen? You keep making such a big deal out of where you're from, that there are lakes everywhere. How can you live in such a place and not know how to swim?"
"I can swim! You caught me off-guard, and...well..." He trailed off.
"'Well', what? What's the big deal? Why have you been...what is going on? You've acted funny over this whole day. What are you not telling me?"
Allerdyce sighed. "That I'm afraid of water." He ran a hand through his hair, remembering to use his left hand, this time.
Lucy stared at him for a long time before finally speaking. "Ally, if you're making this up..."
"I'm not! I swear! I just...never said anything about it before."
"Ally, I've seen you, at Kin's home, in that little pool, and you were fine. And I've seen you at the underground river flowing through Eden, and you're fine. How do you explain that?"
"Shallow water doesn't bother me. If I can see the bottom, and touch the bottom, I'm okay." He sighed again. "Look, it...it happened a long time ago. I was just a little kid, probably 6 or 7 years old. I don't remember it much. See..." He leaned back against the pillows. "It's kind of a long story. Uh...the iron mines, they're open, big pit mines. And eventually, when they get deep enough, they start to fill up with water. When they do, they're abandoned, 'cause you can't mine for ore in a pit full of water. Those pits are deep, real deep. They're not natural, but eventually, they get stocked with fish and plants and stuff, and there's lots of submerged junk, like dead trees and even mining equipment they weren't fast enough to get out of the pit before it flooded. They're popular for swimming, but obviously, really dangerous. No one's supposed to swim in them, but people do, anyway."
Lucy watched him, eyes narrowed, but was listening. "Okay, go on..."
"And, I was swimming in one of those pits, when I was just a little kid, and I got snagged on something underwater. I was caught on it and I couldn't get free, I panicked, and I nearly drowned," he finished. "I don't remember much of that, just that I never could get close to deep water again, not without panicking, and I sometimes have nightmares about it." He gave her a lopsided grin. "At least there's no windows underground. Before I got my powers under control, I used to shatter my bedroom windows 'cause I'd wake up screaming."
She was quiet for a long time. "Okay. I think I get it, why you're scared, and why you...why this happened today." She looked up, glaring at him. "But what I don't get? Why didn't you tell me?!"
Allerdyce was dumbstruck. She took his silence as an invitation to continue. "I mean, I'm your girlfriend! We're not supposed to keep secrets! And it's a stupid secret to keep, anyway! Why not just tell me?! That's what I don't understand."
"Because I was ashamed!" he yelled, waving his hands, ignoring the painful tug of the IV line, even though it made him hiss with pain again. "You knew I'm not any good at this dating thing, when we got together. I didn't tell you 'cause I was embarrassed, and by the time I finally realized you didn't expect me to be Superman, it'd been so long, that it seemed silly to just...y'know, spring it on you. And there was never a good time to tell you," he finished, shrugging. "I mean, how do you bring it up? 'Hi honey, want to go to Up 'N Away for dinner? Oh, and by the way, I'm scared of deep water.'?"
She'd started pacing, halfway through his rant, and had not stopped, or spoken. He sighed. "I told you, I'm no good at this. I never had a girlfriend before, and Ma wasn't exactly a sterling example of how to interact with the opposite sex, at least, not in a healthy way. But I guess it doesn't matter anymore, huh? Even though I wasn't hiding it on purpose, or trying to hurt you, or anything like that, I guess it's a dealbreaker, for us."
Lucy had stopped pacing, and she stood by the window, arms folded across her chest. She was quiet for so long that Allerdyce thought her silence was her answer. He flopped back against the pillows with a gusty sigh.
"I said no, Ally," she repeated.
"Huh?"
"No. No, as in, it's not a dealbreaker. I don't wanna break up with you."
"You...don't?" He stared at the back of her head for a long time, until she finally turned around, glaring at him.
"No, I don't. I don't think it is. Yet. But it's close, real close. You know that? I get why you didn't say anything. You explained it, and while it's a really dumb thing to hide, I get it. It's not like you were being sneaky or something. But that's it. That's the only reason why it's not a dealbreaker." She stepped away from the window, arms folded across her chest. "I don't like liars, and I don't like people who hide things from me, okay? And good relationships are based on trust, and openness, and not hiding stuff from each other, even if you think it's stupid and insignificant, or you think it's embarrassing and want to keep it hidden 'cause you think I'll think less of you if I know--which I don't, by the way. If you can't be open with me, and I can't be open with you, then we've got no future together. Get it?"
He couldn't hold her gaze. "Yeah," he said, just above a whisper. "I get it." He closed his eyes, trying to ignore how much her words stung. For not being a dealbreaker, it certainly sounded as though that's exactly what she thought it was.
Suddenly, she was there, and her arms were around him. His eyes flew open, and he stared at her with wide-eyed surprise. "I don't like yelling at you," she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder, "but you scared the crap out of me, you know that? I saw you go down, and then you didn't come back up, and I thought...I thought that I'd...and you were..." She drew a shuddering breath, and he realized he was holding her, without even remembering putting his arms around her. "I thought you were dead, and it would've been my fault, because I thought you were just being ridiculous about getting in the water. And I swore I'd never let anyone else die, after losing so many good people, in the Resistance, and that was just friends, but this would've been you, I would've lost you, and that's so much worse. I guess I just...I kinda lost it."
"No, I'm sorry," he murmured, his voice still hoarse. "I never knew when to tell you, and it never seemed like a good time, and then it'd been so long, it felt silly just saying it." He shrugged a bit. "I mean, here I am, a card-carrying hero...I've fought Malta and Rikti and Devouring Earth without batting an eyelash, went up against your old enemies without being scared...but I'm afraid of deep water? Kinda wimpy, if you ask me. And not carrying my 'porter with me...yeah, you're right, that is really stupid."
"Yeah," she said, sniffling, "really stupid. You're an idiot, you know that? A big, fat, stubborn idiot. But you're my idiot, and I love you, and if you...if I lost you, I...I don't know what I'd do."
She buried her face against his shoulder, pressing close to him, and he carefully looped his arms around her, trying not to disturb too many of the lines still connected to him, and just held her close. He felt her shaking, but didn't say anything; for once, he realized that he understood that it wasn't such a bad thing, to have someone crying for you.
"Hey..." he said, "it's okay. I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere. Uh...really not going, not with all this crap hooked up to me."
"Yeah, about that. I think they want to keep you here overnight, just to be sure. I overheard the doctors talking to one of the nurses. You inhaled an awful lot of water, they want to make sure you don't develop pneumonia or something."
"That sounds familiar," he grumbled. "I think I remember that, from when I was a kid."
"I'm staying with you," she said, a stubborn set to her jaw. "I don't get your laws, about hospitals, and I don't care. I'll sleep in a chair, if I have to. They can't make me leave."
"Maybe we can tell them you're a representative from our supergroup..."
"Hey, yeah, that might work!"
The two of them lapsed into a comfortable silence, Allerdyce feeling much better, even though his chest was hurting again, and his stomach still hadn't settled down. "Hey, you know what?" he said. "Maybe this isn't such a bad outcome, after all."
"What, the hospital? Are you nuts? You're stuck here, hooked up to machines, maybe longer than just overnight, 'cause they think you might get really sick. How is that good?"
"Yeah, that's all true...but at least it's cooler in here!"
Title: Dealbreaker
Fandom: City of Heroes
Characters: Allerdyce Scheele, Echida (Lucy)
Word Count: 2,304
Consciousness returned slowly to him, bit by bit, rather than all at once. He was aware of the brightness of the room, which he found strange--wasn't he back home, in his room, at Eden? Sound came next, and scent, and those were unfamiliar, too; he could hear the murmur of distant voices, the beep of machinery, but mostly, silence. The smell was even more foreign; vaguely chemical and antiseptic. Allerdyce opened his eyes.
What met his gaze was not the cool, dark stone of Eden's underground bunker, but smooth walls, painted a sterile, soothing shade of pale blue-green. Light streamed in through a window to his left. He was propped up in a bed that was not his own. On one arm, a medical I.D. bracelet cut a bright band against his dark skin. There were needles and sensors connected to his other arm, some connected to an I.V. pole, and some connected to monitoring equipment--the source of the beeping he'd heard. He was in the hospital, he recognized...but why? Even when he'd been knocked unconscious before, the City's vast network of mediport technology would whisk him to one of their high-tech rescusitation centers, reviving him and repairing his wonds almost instantaneously. What had happened this time that was so different...?
In a rush, it all came back to him: the ocean, the water, the feeling of his lungs filling with fluid. He tried to take a deep breath and sit up, and started coughing; his throat was raw and sore, and his stomach protested violently at the sudden movement. He flopped back against the bed with a groan, still coughing.
"You're awake."
Allerdyce turned at the sound of the voice, and realized he wasn't alone in the room. Lucy was sitting near the window, knees drawn up against her chest, arms wrapped around her legs. She stared at him, her expression unreadable. He tried to speak; it came out as an inaudible, hoarse whisper. He cleared his throat, tried again. "What happened?"
"How much do you remember?"
"Not much..." Allerdyce coughed again. "Not much past swallowing half the ocean, that is."
Lucy was staring at him. Her expression looked as though she wasn't sure she should be angry or relieved. "You practically did," she admitted. "You nearly drowned. And what kind of an idiot are you, anyway?"
"Huh?!"
"You left your stupid mediporter at home. You didn't have it on you." Lucy scowled; she'd settled on anger. "You went down, and I kept waiting for you to surface, and when you didn't, I kept watching for the signs that the 'porter had yanked you out of there. But it didn't happen." She stopped pacing and glared at him. "So I had to fish you out of the water and call an ambulance. Why didn't you have your 'porter on you?!"
"I..." He trailed off. "I usually don't carry it, when I'm out doing non-hero stuff. I guess, y'know, I didn't think I'd need it." He tried to raise his right hand to rub the back of his head and hissed in pain; it was the hand with the IV in it. "I'm sorry, babe."
Lucy's eyes flashed fire, her fists balled at her sides. "Don't you 'babe' me, Allerdyce!"
He stared at her, eyes wide. "I'm sorry!" he yelled. "I didn't plan on almost drowning, okay?!"
"And how come you didn't tell me you don't know how to swim?! How stupid is that? Why did you agree to go to the beach if you can't swim?!"
"Huh? Going to the beach was your idea; I didn't suggest it! And I can swim...when someone doesn't shove me out into open water!"
"Oh, so it's my fault, is it? Of all the careless...idiotic..." Lucy started pacing again. "...irresponsible...and you call yourself a hero! A defender, even! How can you possibly be good at what you do, if you can't even keep yourself alive?!"
"Hey!" Allerdyce was angry now. He pointed at her with his good hand. "I would've been just fine, if you hadn't pushed me into the water! And what, do you carry your 'porter with you, wherever you go?!"
"Yes!"
They glared at each other in silence for several long moments, the only sound the beeping of the monitors, the pace agitated as Allerdyce's heart raced. Finally, she heaved a gusty sigh. "If you would've just told me that you can't swim..."
"Babe, I told you. I can swim."
"Then why did this happen? You keep making such a big deal out of where you're from, that there are lakes everywhere. How can you live in such a place and not know how to swim?"
"I can swim! You caught me off-guard, and...well..." He trailed off.
"'Well', what? What's the big deal? Why have you been...what is going on? You've acted funny over this whole day. What are you not telling me?"
Allerdyce sighed. "That I'm afraid of water." He ran a hand through his hair, remembering to use his left hand, this time.
Lucy stared at him for a long time before finally speaking. "Ally, if you're making this up..."
"I'm not! I swear! I just...never said anything about it before."
"Ally, I've seen you, at Kin's home, in that little pool, and you were fine. And I've seen you at the underground river flowing through Eden, and you're fine. How do you explain that?"
"Shallow water doesn't bother me. If I can see the bottom, and touch the bottom, I'm okay." He sighed again. "Look, it...it happened a long time ago. I was just a little kid, probably 6 or 7 years old. I don't remember it much. See..." He leaned back against the pillows. "It's kind of a long story. Uh...the iron mines, they're open, big pit mines. And eventually, when they get deep enough, they start to fill up with water. When they do, they're abandoned, 'cause you can't mine for ore in a pit full of water. Those pits are deep, real deep. They're not natural, but eventually, they get stocked with fish and plants and stuff, and there's lots of submerged junk, like dead trees and even mining equipment they weren't fast enough to get out of the pit before it flooded. They're popular for swimming, but obviously, really dangerous. No one's supposed to swim in them, but people do, anyway."
Lucy watched him, eyes narrowed, but was listening. "Okay, go on..."
"And, I was swimming in one of those pits, when I was just a little kid, and I got snagged on something underwater. I was caught on it and I couldn't get free, I panicked, and I nearly drowned," he finished. "I don't remember much of that, just that I never could get close to deep water again, not without panicking, and I sometimes have nightmares about it." He gave her a lopsided grin. "At least there's no windows underground. Before I got my powers under control, I used to shatter my bedroom windows 'cause I'd wake up screaming."
She was quiet for a long time. "Okay. I think I get it, why you're scared, and why you...why this happened today." She looked up, glaring at him. "But what I don't get? Why didn't you tell me?!"
Allerdyce was dumbstruck. She took his silence as an invitation to continue. "I mean, I'm your girlfriend! We're not supposed to keep secrets! And it's a stupid secret to keep, anyway! Why not just tell me?! That's what I don't understand."
"Because I was ashamed!" he yelled, waving his hands, ignoring the painful tug of the IV line, even though it made him hiss with pain again. "You knew I'm not any good at this dating thing, when we got together. I didn't tell you 'cause I was embarrassed, and by the time I finally realized you didn't expect me to be Superman, it'd been so long, that it seemed silly to just...y'know, spring it on you. And there was never a good time to tell you," he finished, shrugging. "I mean, how do you bring it up? 'Hi honey, want to go to Up 'N Away for dinner? Oh, and by the way, I'm scared of deep water.'?"
She'd started pacing, halfway through his rant, and had not stopped, or spoken. He sighed. "I told you, I'm no good at this. I never had a girlfriend before, and Ma wasn't exactly a sterling example of how to interact with the opposite sex, at least, not in a healthy way. But I guess it doesn't matter anymore, huh? Even though I wasn't hiding it on purpose, or trying to hurt you, or anything like that, I guess it's a dealbreaker, for us."
Lucy had stopped pacing, and she stood by the window, arms folded across her chest. She was quiet for so long that Allerdyce thought her silence was her answer. He flopped back against the pillows with a gusty sigh.
"I said no, Ally," she repeated.
"Huh?"
"No. No, as in, it's not a dealbreaker. I don't wanna break up with you."
"You...don't?" He stared at the back of her head for a long time, until she finally turned around, glaring at him.
"No, I don't. I don't think it is. Yet. But it's close, real close. You know that? I get why you didn't say anything. You explained it, and while it's a really dumb thing to hide, I get it. It's not like you were being sneaky or something. But that's it. That's the only reason why it's not a dealbreaker." She stepped away from the window, arms folded across her chest. "I don't like liars, and I don't like people who hide things from me, okay? And good relationships are based on trust, and openness, and not hiding stuff from each other, even if you think it's stupid and insignificant, or you think it's embarrassing and want to keep it hidden 'cause you think I'll think less of you if I know--which I don't, by the way. If you can't be open with me, and I can't be open with you, then we've got no future together. Get it?"
He couldn't hold her gaze. "Yeah," he said, just above a whisper. "I get it." He closed his eyes, trying to ignore how much her words stung. For not being a dealbreaker, it certainly sounded as though that's exactly what she thought it was.
Suddenly, she was there, and her arms were around him. His eyes flew open, and he stared at her with wide-eyed surprise. "I don't like yelling at you," she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder, "but you scared the crap out of me, you know that? I saw you go down, and then you didn't come back up, and I thought...I thought that I'd...and you were..." She drew a shuddering breath, and he realized he was holding her, without even remembering putting his arms around her. "I thought you were dead, and it would've been my fault, because I thought you were just being ridiculous about getting in the water. And I swore I'd never let anyone else die, after losing so many good people, in the Resistance, and that was just friends, but this would've been you, I would've lost you, and that's so much worse. I guess I just...I kinda lost it."
"No, I'm sorry," he murmured, his voice still hoarse. "I never knew when to tell you, and it never seemed like a good time, and then it'd been so long, it felt silly just saying it." He shrugged a bit. "I mean, here I am, a card-carrying hero...I've fought Malta and Rikti and Devouring Earth without batting an eyelash, went up against your old enemies without being scared...but I'm afraid of deep water? Kinda wimpy, if you ask me. And not carrying my 'porter with me...yeah, you're right, that is really stupid."
"Yeah," she said, sniffling, "really stupid. You're an idiot, you know that? A big, fat, stubborn idiot. But you're my idiot, and I love you, and if you...if I lost you, I...I don't know what I'd do."
She buried her face against his shoulder, pressing close to him, and he carefully looped his arms around her, trying not to disturb too many of the lines still connected to him, and just held her close. He felt her shaking, but didn't say anything; for once, he realized that he understood that it wasn't such a bad thing, to have someone crying for you.
"Hey..." he said, "it's okay. I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere. Uh...really not going, not with all this crap hooked up to me."
"Yeah, about that. I think they want to keep you here overnight, just to be sure. I overheard the doctors talking to one of the nurses. You inhaled an awful lot of water, they want to make sure you don't develop pneumonia or something."
"That sounds familiar," he grumbled. "I think I remember that, from when I was a kid."
"I'm staying with you," she said, a stubborn set to her jaw. "I don't get your laws, about hospitals, and I don't care. I'll sleep in a chair, if I have to. They can't make me leave."
"Maybe we can tell them you're a representative from our supergroup..."
"Hey, yeah, that might work!"
The two of them lapsed into a comfortable silence, Allerdyce feeling much better, even though his chest was hurting again, and his stomach still hadn't settled down. "Hey, you know what?" he said. "Maybe this isn't such a bad outcome, after all."
"What, the hospital? Are you nuts? You're stuck here, hooked up to machines, maybe longer than just overnight, 'cause they think you might get really sick. How is that good?"
"Yeah, that's all true...but at least it's cooler in here!"
